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ABAP SQL in ABAP Release 7.50
1. Arrangement of SELECT Clauses andFROM Clauses
2. Unions
3. Host Expressions
4. SQL Expressions
5. SQL Functions
6. Result Type of COUNT
7. ON Conditions
8. Columns Specified After BETWEEN
9. Subquery as Data Source of INSERT
10. Access to CDS Entities
11. CDS Path Expressions
12. Access to Global Temporary Tables
13. Strict Mode in the Syntax Check
14. CDS Views with Input Parameters
15. System Classes
16. Access to Replacement Objects
Arrangement of SELECT Clauses andFROM Clauses
From ABAP release 7.50, the FROM
clause of a SELECT statement
can also be specified in front of the SELECT
clause. In this case, the SELECT clause must be introduced using the
new addition FIELDS. This arrangement supports tools such as Code Completion in ABAP Editor.
Unions
From ABAP release 7.50, the addition UNION
creates the union of the results sets of two SELECT statements.
Host Expressions
From ABAP release 7.50, host expressions with the syntax @( expr ) can be specified in many operand positions in which host variables are possible. For expr, all ABAP expressions can calls are possible that can be specified in general expression positions.
Operand positions for host expressions in ABAP release 7.50:
- Arguments of SQL expressions and hence all operand positions in which these are possible.
- Operand n after UP TO and PACKAGE SIZE in the SELECT statement,
- Right sides of WHERE, ON, or HAVING conditions, except for LIKE and IN.
- Actual parameters for input parameters of CDS views.
- In the write statements INSERT, UPDATE, MODIFY, and DELETE, the work areas wa or the internal tables itab from which the data is taken.
- Right side of a SET expression in UPDATE.
SQL Expressions
The following changes have been made:
- From ABAP release 7.50, SQL expressions can be specified in the following operand positions (except in the SELECT list):
- Left side of any WHERE condition
- Left side of a HAVING condition
- Left side of a complex case distinction
- As an operand of a cast expression.
- In the SQL expression CASE, columns with the built-in dictionary type SSTRING can now be used.
If an SQL expression can be specified, any individual literals, host variables, and host expressions can also be specified.
SQL Functions
The following changes have been made:
- New Numeric Function
The new function ROUND rounds numeric values.
- New String Functions
The new functions CONCAT, LPAD, LENGTH, LTRIM, REPLACE, RIGHT, RTRIM, and SUBSTRING perform operations on strings.
- Coalesce Function Expanded
The coalesce function can now have 255 arguments instead of just two and returns the value of the first argument that does not have the null value. Columns with the built-in dictionary type SSTRING can now be used as arguments.
Result Type of COUNT
From ABAP release 7.50, the result type of all aggregate functions COUNT is INT8.
ON Conditions
The following is possible from ABAP release 7.50:
- SQL expressions can be used on the left side of the ON condition of any join expression.
- The expression IS [NOT] NULL can be used in an ON condition of an outer join.
- The full ON condition or subconditions of joins can be specified dynamically as (cond_syntax). This is not possible if the full FROM clause is specified dynamically as (cond_syntax).
Columns Specified After BETWEEN
From ABAP release 7.50, numeric columns can be specified on the right side in an interval condition
using BETWEEN, providing the name of the database table or view is prefixed using ~.
Subquery as Data Source of INSERT
In the ABAP SQL write statement INSERT, a parenthesized
subquery can now be specified as a data source
after FROM. The rows of the results set of the subquery are inserted into
the target table directly on the database. No data transport is required between the database and the application server.
Access to CDS Entities
The following changes have been made:
- From ABAP release 7.50, the restriction no longer applies that a CDS entity can only be used together with database tables and classic views in a SELECT statement if addressed using its CDS database view. From ABAP release 7.50, CDS views can be addressed using the name of their CDS entity, even if associated with database tables or classic views using joins or subqueries. This makes accesses performed on a CDS using the CDS database view obsolete.
- From ABAP release 7.50, the new CDS table functions can also be specified as data sources of a SELECT statement alongside CDS views.
- If an input parameter of a CDS entity is annotated with the new annotation @Environment.systemField, ABAP SQL can pass the system value that matches the value of the annotation implicitly. The annotation value #CLIENT even prevents an actual parameter from being passed to input parameters explicitly that are annotated in this way for client IDs.
CDS Path Expressions
From ABAP release 7.50, path expressions can be specified in SELECT statements that access CDS views with associations published for outside use as follows.
- Path expressions closed with an element can be specified as columns.
- Path expressions closed with a target data source can be used as data sources of the FROM clause.
Access to Global Temporary Tables
When the new global temporary tables in ABAP Dictionary are accessed using ABAP SQL, all temporary data stored here is guaranteed to be deleted before the next implicit
database commit, If not, a runtime error occurs.
Strict Mode in the Syntax Check
If one the new features listed above (with the exception of dynamic join conditions) is used in an ABAP SQL statement, the syntax check is performed in a
strict mode, which handles the statement more strictly than the regular syntax check.
CDS Views with Input Parameters
In ABAP release 7.50 and higher, the input parameters
of CDS views are supported by all database platforms and can be used in ABAP SQL. It is no longer necessary to query property VIEWS_WITH_PARAMETERS
using method USE_FEATURES of class CL_ABAP_DBFEATURES.
Querying this property results in a warning check from the syntax check.
System Classes
The following changes have been made:
- The class CL_ABAP_DBFEATURES can now be used to check all features of databases that can be integrated in ABAP programming but which cannot be used in all database systems.
- The new system class CL_DBI_UTILITIES contains utility methods for the database interface. The documented method IS_LOGGING_ON can be used to verify whether logging is currently switched on for a database table.
Access to Replacement Objects
From ABAP release 7.50, it is possible to define a CDS view as a replacement object in ABAP Dictionary (transaction SE11) for a database table or a database view.
If a replacement object is defined for a database table or database view specified as a data source of a SELECT statement, the SELECT statement accesses the CDS view and not the database table or the database view.
This change was implemented using an internal tool a kernel patch after ABAP release 7.40, SP10.